Kyle Wagner

The processor in your computer? Probably an Intel chip. The processor in your phone? Definitely not an Intel chip. And Intel would be the first to admit that it's fallen far behind in the mobile game. It desperately wants in on the post-PC land grab, but so far hasn't been able to put out a chip that's made into a phone you can buy. Medfield is the processor that's supposed to change all that.

The Medfield reference design phone we played with on the CES show floor was running Gingerbread with a 1.6Ghz single-core chip, and felt like a really solid build of Android. The UI was fast and with no discernible lag, and apps loaded really quickly. It was on HSPA+, and even in the CES connectivity doodie show, it pulled content pretty quickly.

The specs it supports are pretty impressive—up to a 24MP camera, 1080p video output—and if the Android build is as stable as it seemed, and it holds true across end-user phones, Intel might have a chance to win its game of catchup.

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Of course, we didn't get a chance to test the battery life, which is perhaps the crucial test Intel's new chips—that and whether anybody will be willing to put them in their phones.